What Does the Internet Say about You?

by Mikey G at Flickr

Your Safety and Your Digital Footprint
Clarence Fisher an English teacher used a very clever assignment to teach his students about the information people post about themselves online. He gave his students the names of three people prominent in education Will Richardson, Jeff Utecht and Jabiz Raisdana. The student's task was to search for all the information they could find online about the three. The students used Google, flickr, YouTube, twitter, linkedin and Wordpress to name a few.

They managed to find quite a lot of information both personal and professional on the three and even a personal phone number for one of them.

According to Fisher, "When we turned from discussing digital footprint to instead looking at online safety, my students were at first shocked and quite horrified at all the information that Jeff, Jabiz and Will had chosen to share online. Then they looked a little deeper. We discussed safety and what safety meant. In the end, my students were amazed at the amount of information shared but felt that overall these guys were being safe. They were concerned about them being able to find a phone number for Jeff online and they were also concerned about Will’s kids and the amount disclosed about them; but they also had to admit that they were not able to find any contact information, school name, etc."

Read more about the assignment on Fisher's Blog Remote Access


Next up, see Peer Evaluation